A procession of segmented creatures moves across the seafloor.
Up ahead, hundreds have begun shedding their exoskeletons and piling on top of one another in what appears to be...a massive orgy.
But this is not some alien world.
It's Earth about 500 million years ago, when these creatures, called trilobites, prospered.
Prevailing for around 270 million years and encompassing more than 20,000 distinct species, trilobites are some of the most successful lifeforms in Earth's history.
When they sprung into existence, they were among the most diverse and sophisticated organisms Earth had yet seen.
And, as the earliest known animals with complex eyes, trilobites had a unique perspective on the ancient world.
For almost all of Earth's history before the rise of the trilobites, life had mostly consisted of microscopic marine organisms.
But then, scientists think an increase in oxygen allowed multicellular lifeforms to extract more energy from their food and perform more complex functions.
This then enabled the rise of carnivores, which in turn spurred a productive arms race, resulting in what's known as the Cambrian explosion.
